Samarina

Samarina (Greek: Σαμαρίνα, Aromanian: Samarina, Xamarina, San Marina) is a village and a former municipality in Grevena regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Grevena, of which it is a municipal unit. Its population primarily consists of Aromanians (sometimes called Vlachs). It attracts many tourists due to its scenic location and beautiful pine and beech forests. The population was 378 people as of 2011.

Samarina is the most famous of all the Aromanian villages of the Pindus and the inhabitants are fiercely proud of their heritage and traditions. Every summer on August 15, on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, Samarinans from all over the world assemble on their ancestral village to celebrate. There, on the main square outside the Great Church, they perform the "Great Dance" (Greek: Tranós Chorós, Aromanian: Corlu Mari): thousands of people hold hands and form concentric circles, and they walk slowly and ceremonially counterclockwise, while singing their traditional songs in a rousing unison chorus.